The Czech and Slovak bread recipe called Vánočka Christmas braid I read on this blog and decided to make it to expand the foreign preparations already on the blog.

It’s a dough very rich in butter and eggs similar to a brioche, and I confess I went crazy trying to make the 6-strand braid like the one of the Challah that you can already find on my site. Previously, I watched a video in Czech, but the lady braiding was in a poorly lit room, and between stopping and resuming the action, I almost lost my mind..
Since I’m stubborn and ABSOLUTELY wanted to make a different braid from the usual one, I searched for the Sabbath bread braid, and let’s say the result is better, at least for me!

The Vanocka (from the word Vánoc Christmas in Czech) is usually prepared during the Christmas period and also features different braids: one, for example, is very cute and built in height with braids stacked one on top of the other, the lowest with 4 strands, then one with 3, and finally the highest with 2.

This bread usually prepared for the Christmas holiday has traces already in the 16th century.
Initially, it was made only by artisans, and later, from the 18th century, the tradition of baking it in private homes spread. The first Vánočka Christmas braid was respectfully reserved for the head of the household to ensure a good year, while the larger one was for the Christmas Eve dinner, and some pieces were given to animals to protect them from negative influences.

Also, the bread preparation required some propitiatory rites, such as the one where the person preparing it had to wear an apron and a headscarf, both white in color.

Another custom was to insert a lucky coin into this Christmas bread in the Vánočka dough: finding it in your slice meant health and wealth for the entire following year, a bit like what happens with the cake Vassilopita of the Greek tradition prepared for the New Year’s Eve dinner!

Personally, I added 200 grams of almonds in total, 150 grams chopped and all in the dough, and 50 grams in slices that I used for the final decoration before baking the sweet bread!

P.S. I indicated high difficulty because the 6-strand braid was not easy for me, but if it’s a breeze for you or you prefer to make a simple big braid…it’s very low difficulty!!!!

If you don’t have fresh brewer’s yeast but only dry yeast, remember that a 25-gram cube corresponds to a 7-gram packet, the ratio is about 3:1, precisely 3.29. If you want the perfect formula to calculate the proportions, follow this formula:
— to convert the quantity of fresh brewer’s yeast into dry yeast:
grams of fresh yeast indicated in the recipe ingredients : 3.29 = grams of dry yeast

–– to convert the quantity of dry brewer’s yeast into fresh:
grams of fresh yeast indicated in the recipe ingredients x 3.29 = grams of dry yeast

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I opened a channel for free recipes open to everyone on WhatsApp with no notifications and no sound, which you can subscribe to by clicking on the link here https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F, and every day you can read a sweet and a savory recipe!

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Vánočka